Houston County Courier - Local News
Copyright 2012 - Polk County Publishing Company

Lemur attacks mail carrierHouston County Courier

By Lynda Jones
Editor-in-Chief

Mail carriers usually have to worry about dogs, but Tuesday, Dec. 4 a Grapeland mail carrier faced a different kind of challenge. The Houston County Sheriff’s Office received a call Tuesday from a Grapeland area resident who reported that her monkey attacked a woman and bit the woman on the hand. The caller asked that an ambulance be sent to her residence, located in the 3300 block of CR 2345. The HCSO responded to the call, and through the investigation, discovered the animal actually was a ringedtail Lemur. Marla Reeves, a Grapeland postal employee, said she was attempting to deliver mail when the lemur entered the passenger-side window of her postal service vehicle and attacked her hand. Reeves said she was in shock and couldn’t tell what was going on except that her hand was covered in blood. The lemur went back out the window, which Reeves immediately closed. The lemur’s owners were outside on their porch at the time of the incident. The female resident sat down in an attempt to get the lemur to go sit in her lap, according to Reeves. Instead, the lemur continued trying to get back into Reeves’ vehicle. “It was just going crazy,” Reeves said. “In fact, there’s marks on all four of my door handles that show where he marks on all four of my door handles that show where he tried to open the door.” The resident eventually was able to cage the lemur and called for an ambulance. Reeves was transported to the emergency room at ETMC Crockett. The wounds are suspected to be two bites - one below Reeves’ knuckles and one near her wrist, Reeves said. Reeves said that due to the nature of the wounds, doctors did not stitch them, but they did refer her to an orthopedic surgeon to further assess the bite near her wrist joint. The animal is quarantined and the HCSO is continuing its investigation of the incident. Courier News Reporter Jenna Duncan contributed to this story.